God rewards those who are holy. Stories about saints whose bodies are not subject to corruption after their death, is not new to us. Today's 1st reading is proof of this reality.
The more we strive to know more about Jesus the greater our awe and amazement of the things we discover about Him. There are moments in our lives when we encounter and witness events that make us utterly amazed at how things ever came to be. Given the circumstances we have, we can sometimes predict or project the outcome of the things ahead of us or in the near future. Although sometimes things do not happen as expected because we are not capable of seeing the exact future we can only hope in God who does. Today’s 1st reading mentions the prophecy of David which is taken from today’s psalm reading. The time gap between these scriptural readings is almost 1000 years. No matter how long and far apart they are, God could still make things fall into perfect place. Heaven and earth will fail but His words will remain. Every single second, minute, hour and day of our lives is undeniably a manifestation of God's power and might accompanied by signs, wonders and miracles as He pours out His Spirit on us. Amen. Hallelujah!
Acts 2:14, 22-33
… For David says of him: ‘I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. 26 Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, 27 because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence. ...he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. 33 Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you both see and hear...
I have always been amazed of the fact that the scriptures of the Old Testament has always been spoken of as the foreshadowing of the New Testament which is the fulfillment of everything that was written. The apostles were able to connect Jesus to the scriptures in the Old Testament and became very convinced that He is indeed the Messiah and Savior of the world. The 1st reading taken from Daniel and the Psalm reading for today were written several hundred years apart. This is judging from the timeline of the reign of King David (1000BC) to whom the Psalms were attributed but we can detect the uniformity of the message regarding the end times and the resurrection. We live in a dynamic world and it changes so fast. They say that nowadays, whatever we hold true for now may not be the case later. It is a consolation to know that in the midst of this unsure world we still have something that we can hold on to. The words of God can stand the test of time and will remain to be true from generation to generation. There may be some negative speculations and forecasts that are being hurled right in front of us about our present situations most especially with the uncertainty and unpredictability of prevailing conditions. We need to keep this in mind, only God can keep us safe from all harm. A holy man once said this, "If we don't go to the desert we have nothing to bring in the marketplace." If we have no prayer then nothing works. We have to pray. We need to take time to be alone with God because if we don't, then we make ourselves vulnerable to the enemy. The scriptures tell us of stories based on real life experiences of holy men and women who lived at a different time and period than today. It is a consolation to know that the God of yesterday is still God of today and tomorrow. This gives us the confidence to really hold on to Him for He is living and true now and forevermore. The message of the readings tells us to turn our gaze on the inevitable which is sure to come. If we try to look at the facts of life there are very few things that we can permanently hold on to. All these things will come to pass and we will all eventually leave this world no matter how long we may have lived already, it will eventually come to an end. When that final day comes we must be found prepared and ready for the inheritance that God gives us. When we went to Las Vegas I saw that one of the shows we can watch for entertainment is a magician named Angel. I was reminded of the time when he was a guest in Oprah. He wowed the viewers and the crowd by being able to predict 5 days before the show the things that Oprah and 2 random guests from thousands of people from the audience are going to say. He wrote in a piece of paper these three things: delicious, John and Kevin and kept them in a suitcase with a surveillance camera on for 5 days so that no one can see it or even come near it before the show. What’s very interesting was the fact that on the day of the show when Oprah was asked what word comes to her mind she answered, “delicious” and the other 2 who were chosen randomly from almost more than a thousand crowd along Michigan Ave. in Chicago. It was done by throwing a ball and whoever catches it will be the one who will be asked. The man from the crowd who got the ball was asked the name of his first pet and he answered, “John” while the woman who got the other ball was asked who was her first kiss and she answered, “ Kevin”. All of their answers matched the 3 things that he wrote 5 days in advance. It was kind of unbelievable to see something like this and couldn’t quite come up with a good explanation how it came to be. If it was just a trick he did make a good presentation because it appeared very convincing. How can a man predict in advance the things that these people are going to say? If this man who claims to have the power of prediction was able to do it all the more can a powerful God predict our future. But we must keep in mind that it’s choice not chance that determines our destiny. There is only one real failure in life that is possible and that is not to be true to the best one knows. We should always settle for best and make God our choice. For there is nothing more assuring than the fact that we have a loving God and Father who surely has our destiny secure. We must be secured in the knowledge that as children of God our Father we are heirs of His Kingdom and co-owners of this vast creation. May we find the Lord as the only treasure in our lives worth keeping. When God calls us for a task we should always be ready, willing and able to follow Him no matter what the cost. Always follow where the Lord leads us. Nothing else could be worth more than God's inheritance. Sometimes we are confronted with so many allurements that we begin to be influenced by the way the world judges things. Let us always hold fast to God's views and ideals that we may not lose sight of the path to life and our inheritance. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalms 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
R: Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.
...LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you have made my destiny secure...
I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. (R) 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence; 10 because you will not abandon my soul to the nether world, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption. (R) 11 You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.
Today's gospel speaks of how the elders and chief priests during the time of Jesus tried very hard to cover up the truth. We can never be bound by any lie because the truth will always find its way out in the open. This sounds very familiar to all of us whenever we encounter something that surprises us all of a sudden. We can not hide the truth because what is in secret will be revealed and not remain hidden for a long time. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Him. The truth about Jesus could never be tampered no matter how hard they try to spread lies. It is always the doubting heart and mind of a person that clouds the truth. We should follow the example of Mary Magdalene and those women with her who believed and followed what Jesus told them to do. Several times we find ourselves in this situation when we have mixed emotions. We are reminded in today's gospel that no matter how complex things are that we fail to fully understand what's going on in our lives, we should always draw near, embrace and give homage to Jesus. We should not lose heart. Instead we should quickly dispel all the negative thoughts no matter how frightening things may be we should remain overjoyed in order to share it to others. To the very people whom we meet and share God's peace and joy. They can also be the people whom God sends who meet us on the way, greet us, tell us not be afraid and assure us. As we gather all our strength and courage we, too like the disciples should never turn back and go forth. Amen. Hallelujah!
Matthew 28:8-15
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee , and there they will see me.” While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had happened. The chief priests assembled with the elders and took counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.’ And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.
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